Debating the Traveler
by NetRaptor
Summary: Jayesh is a failed Guardian. He can't bring his scores high enough to qualify as a Titan, and risks being thrown out of the Tower. Instead, he longs to commune with the Light. He sneaks aboard the Traveler itself-and is shut inside the Red Legion's cage. Now he and the Traveler debate the actions of Ghaul, his supplication, and whether he's worthy of the Light.
1. Chapter 1

Long ago, the Traveler arrived in the solar system. It was a mysterious ball like a mechanical moon, and brought the magic of Light to humanity, increasing lifespans and human intelligence. The Traveler terraformed the planets and moons. Humanity entered a Golden Age.

But the Light had an enemy - a Darkness that had tracked it across the universe. When the Darkness fell upon the solar system, the Golden Age ended in chaos and blood. Most of humanity fled in thousands of ships, only to die in the asteroid belt as the Darkness met them.

The Traveler and the Darkness battled, and the Light won - but at great cost. The Traveler was broken, a huge section torn out of it. As the Darkness retreated and the Traveler sank into a comatose state, it released the ghosts.

Millions of tiny robots emerged from the Traveler, each seeking the soul - the spark - of a single human, living or dead. When a ghost found that spark, they bonded to it, resurrecting the human, and granting them powers of the Light. These were the Risen, intended to be protectors of humanity and the Traveler.

But the Risen, for hundreds of years, had other ideas.

* * *

The Ghost had wandered for many years after being sent out by the Traveler. Somewhere in the world, lost in time and space, his partner's corpse lay, perhaps now only dust, awaiting the Ghost's resurrection.

But the world was a big place, and Ghost was small. He searched the nuclear zones, where crumbling city streets were paved with bones. He searched the wilds, where nature had buried corpses deep. He searched the sea, where fragments of the dead formed the muck on the sea floor.

He fled the bloody Warlords, Risen who had seized power for themselves, instead of being protectors. He saw other Risen become the Iron Lords, battling the Warlords and restoring a semblance of civilization. They gathered humanity beneath the sleeping Traveler, where a little Light still trickled from it, empowering and enriching. They began building what they called the Last City.

He watched Risen called the Pilgrim Guard protect wayfarers and guide people to the growing City.

He saw the Pilgrim Guard become the Guardians, and witnessed the organization of the Vanguard, sworn to protect, and not conquer.

In all those centuries, he had not found his own Risen - his Guardian.

It was not in the nature of a Ghost to despair. His mission was to find his Guardian, and he would find his Guardian. But loneliness grew in his core.

He engineered basic clothing, iterating on the design, improving it until he was sure his Risen would be warm and comfortable. He practiced the speech he would make as his Risen's eyes opened and they drew their first breath.

Far out in the Himalayas, Ghost was flying through a snowy mountain pass, bound for the ruins of a monastery, when a spark called to his Light.

The spark of his Risen! Ghost homed in on it, hope replacing his dreary loneliness. It was a tiny thing, remote, yet defying the ages, singing to him of love and courage, friendship and hope. The search led him to the foot of a cliff, where the snow and vegetation had long ago rendered a corpse to dust. Ghost opened his shell and expanded into a sphere of Light, collecting the local quanta and reassembling them into a human body. This was a sacred task, granted by the Traveler to the Ghosts. Ghost performed the task flawlessly, excitement brightening his Light. At last, his loneliness was ended. At last, he had found his best friend.

He built the body of a young man around the spark and added the clothing he had developed for so long. Then Ghost called him back to consciousness.

His Guardian gasped and sat up in the snow, looking around in a daze. He was quite a young man, barely out of his teens, with the medium brown skin of people who had lived here an age ago. "What happened?" he asked. "Who are you?"

"I'm your ghost! You are the Traveler's Chosen, resurrected in the Light."

The young man blinked at him. "Could you maybe ... explain better? What's a Traveler?"

Ghost explained. And explained. The new Guardian listened in growing astonishment. He had died before the Golden Age, long ago in Earth's past.

Finally Ghost wound down. "Do you remember your name?"

"Jayesh," the young man said faintly. "But I don't remember anything else. It's too far away."

"Would you like to name me?" Ghost ventured.

Jayesh studied him, venturing to touch the ghost's star-shaped shell. "I barely know you, Ghost. How can I name someone I barely know?"

"Fair enough," Ghost replied. "I've been Ghost for a thousand years. I suppose a little longer won't hurt."

Jayesh stood up, shivering, despite the clothing Ghost had made for him. "It's so cold. Where are we?"

"The mountains of Tibet," Ghost replied. "We can talk more on the way. For now, let's find a way to get you back to the Last City."

* * *

When Jayesh first saw the Traveler above the Last City, he was filled with wonder. And questions. So many questions. What was that thing? Where did it come from? What did it do?

Ghost answered some of these questions, but even he didn't know everything. "Just because the Traveler created me doesn't mean it told me about itself."

The Last City was built in a huge circle beneath the Traveler, surrounded by ten-story walls to keep out marauding aliens called the Fallen. Here were skyscrapers, trains, canals, houses, stores, all the trappings of civilization.

Of the six defense towers on the walls around the City's perimeter, only one was still occupied by Guardians and the Vanguard, their numbers diminished by many wars. They welcomed Jayesh with open arms, offering him a home, companionship, and a chance to protect the last remnants of humanity. Jayesh agreed at once. But it didn't satiate his curiosity.

In the Tower, Jayesh met the Speaker - the masked man who claimed to speak for the Traveler. He held a high office in the Vanguard and helped run the City through a governing body called the Consensus. As soon as Jayesh heard about him, he contrived to meet him and peppered him with questions. The Speaker told him much of history and mankind's dealings with the Traveler. Yet he could not tell much of the Traveler, itself. Jayesh grew frustrated.

Finally, the Speaker told him, "You are young, yet, Guardian. Complete your training. Study and listen. You will discover many answers on your own."

Jayesh took the Titan discipline, thinking to take up the mantle of a protector. He trained, physically, mentally, and learned to handle weapons. But his scores were abysmally low. Commander Zavala was not pleased.

"This is a disgrace, Guardian Jayesh," Zavala exclaimed, slamming one first on the huge table in the command room. "I have never had a Titan perform at the fifty-fourth percentile. If I sent you out on patrol, the Fallen would pick you off like a sick antelope."

Jayesh hung his head. He had no excuse - succeeding in running, jumping, and hitting targets seemed less important than reading the Archives all night long. He'd missed several important tests. Also, most Titans were tall, burly types, excelling at hand to hand combat. Jayesh was small and wiry. His classmates steamrolled him time and again.

Ghost said, "He really has tried, sir. Give him more time. He'll toughen up."

Zavala pointed at the little robot. "I think you made a mistake, Ghost. You brought me a defective Guardian. No Titan should be this far behind after three months of training."

"He's not defective!" Ghost exclaimed. "He has the mind of a scholar."

"And the body of a soldier," Zavala snapped. "Now get out there and raise these scores, Jayesh. You will not disgrace this Tower by dying so soon after your rebirth."

Jayesh crept out of the command room, his face burning. He went out in the Tower courtyard and sat on the wall that overlooked the City and the great, moon-like Traveler.

"Could I be defective?" he asked Ghost. "Does that happen?"

"There are rumors," Ghost replied, floating beside him. "But nobody has ever truly proved it. It would mean that I made a mistake when I detected your spark. And I'm certain I didn't. I looked for you for years, Jay. Many, many trips around the sun."

Jayesh studied the distant Traveler, currently flanked on one side by a bank of white clouds. "It's so scarred," he murmured. "The bottom has holes in it. You said it gave its life to save humanity from the Darkness?"

"Yes," Ghost replied sadly, spinning his four star-like segments around his core. "It lives still, but it is blind and deaf. Even us Ghosts cannot speak to it. It would be so useful if we could. I could ask it about you."

"And discover whether I'm a mistake," Jayesh said bitterly. "You know, it's not fair. I've read the Books of Sorrow. We know more about the Darkness than we do the Light."

"Those books hold their own darkness," Ghost said acidly. "Some Guardians have abandoned the Light, lured away by the promises of the Worms."

Jayesh shuddered. The Books of Sorrow were the ancient history of the alien race known as the Hive, servants of the Darkness from ages past. They worshiped the Great Worms, vile monsters of Darkness that inhabited a gas giant called Fundament - until the Hive helped them escape and hunt the Traveler from galaxy to galaxy. Some Guardians had abandoned the Light, hearing the seductive whisper of those Worms, and doused their own Light in Darkness.

Jayesh gazed longingly at the Traveler. "Yet no Guardian has ever sought to commune with the Light as some do the Darkness?"

"No," Ghost said. "That would mean actually entering the Traveler itself, and that is forbidden."

"Oh." Jayesh watched the clouds obscure the lower half of the Traveler, pouring rain on a section of the City. "Why is it forbidden?"

"Nobody knows what's inside," Ghost replied. "It's the source of our Light. If you didn't die from it, then you might accidentally do unspeakable harm to our already damaged protector."

"I wouldn't harm it," Jayesh protested. "I would only seek to understand. And I'm already living thanks to the Light. How would more Light harm me?"

Ghost studied his Guardian, his tiny blue eye scanning back and forth. "You really mean to do it?"

Jayesh shrugged. "I don't know. I couldn't get up there, anyway. I'd get caught."

"Yes," his Ghost agreed. "Let's not speak of this again."

* * *

Jayesh didn't speak of it, but he thought about it. He watched transport ships fly overhead, and thought about it. He watched fighter ships hover, and thought about it.

Meanwhile, he tried harder to bring his scores up. He ran miles on the track. He did hundreds of push-ups and sit-ups, and spent hours on the firing range. Slowly his scores improved. But by his next evaluation, he had only reached the seventy-ninth percentile.

Zavala was scary in a good mood. His blue skin and glowing eyes, combined with his height and heavy silver armor, made him the most imposing person in the entire command room. But when he was angry, he was terrifying.

Jayesh stood at attention, sweat dripping down his back, under his armor. Zavala stared at his tablet, teeth clenched, eyebrows lowered. Slowly he raised his head and stared at Jayesh. Those glowing blue eyes burned like lasers.

"Why," Zavala said quietly, "are your scores so abysmally low, Guardian?"

The Tower hushed. The other Guardians and humans who worked there all fell silent, eavesdropping. Zavala was about to go volcanic on a lazy recruit, which was always a good show.

Jayesh inhaled, trying to steady himself. "I've worked very hard, sir. I don't know why I'm not ranking higher."

"You are a Guardian!" Zavala exploded, his voice booming throughout the command room. "Your very flesh is knitted together out of Light! By these reports, you have the physical strength of a middle-aged human and the shooting accuracy of a blind chimpanzee!"

Jayesh gulped. Zavala's rage swept over him in a wave of red. His thoughts cringed away and instead turned to the Traveler. As Zavala continued to rant at him, Jayesh lost himself in lore he had gleaned about the Light and the Darkness, and his growing plan to sneak aboard the Traveler.

He didn't emerge from his happy place until Zavala turned his outrage on Jayesh's Ghost, accusing him of being defective and thereby creating a defective Guardian. Ghost didn't answer, but shrank his segments together a little tighter, as if trying to hide.

Jayesh gently closed his fingers around his Ghost and drew the little robot protectively against his chest, his eye turned inward. "Sir," he said, when Zavala halted for breath, "this is all on me. Please don't blame my Ghost."

"It is all on you," Zavala snarled. "You have thirty days to bring these scores up to the ninetieth percentile, where a Guardian should be. Should you fail, you will leave this Tower and live the rest of your life as a civilian in the City. Perhaps a job as a garbage collector would suit you better."

Jayesh's knees shook as he left the command room. Behind him, Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard, broke the silence by saying, "I think you were a little harsh, Commander."

At least someone disagreed with Zavala's decree. Jayesh rested on the outer wall and gazed longingly at the Traveler. He released Ghost to float beside him.

"Thank you," Ghost murmured.

"Why aren't my scores better?" Jayesh said. "You've watched me train, Ghost. What am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Ghost replied. "But I do wonder about your past."

"My past?"

"I found your remains at the bottom of a cliff. A kilometer-high cliff. Is it possible that the way you died has affected your rebirth?"

Jayesh frowned. Now that Ghost said it, he did have a dim memory of slipping, falling, careening off points of stone that broke him as he fell. He also recalled a shadowy group of people, their faces long forgotten, as they shoved him off.

"I was murdered," he said.

Ghost looked at him quickly. "Murdered?"

"People threw me off that cliff," Jayesh said slowly. "Thinking about it ... my impression is of betrayal. It hurt me that they did it. But it was so long ago, my memories are very faint."

Ghost traced him with a healing beam, as if the idea of his Guardian being murdered upset him and he wanted to do something about it. But Jayesh was healthy now. He sat there, dark hair ruffled by the breeze, gazing at the Traveler.

"I was slain by Darkness," Jayesh murmured. "Raised in Light. But perhaps the taint still clings to me. It's made me weak."

"Impossible," Ghost replied, but he sounded uncertain. "I've never heard of a Guardian whose past life interfered with his present."

"You've also never heard of a Guardian who became a garbage collector," Jayesh replied ruefully. "But I may be the first."


	2. Chapter 2: Entry

Jayesh kept on with his training, but he had lost heart for it.

Instead, he spent his free time refining a plan to borrow a fighter aircraft, hover it beneath the Traveler long enough to board it, then send the ship home on autopilot. He told no one, and tried to hide it from his Ghost, too. But Ghost watched the vid screens where Jayesh was charting rental ships and watching tutorials on autopilot settings.

"I know what you're planning," Ghost said late one night.

Jayesh was in his dormitory room, the only light coming from his tablet screen. He glanced at Ghost's glowing blue eye. "You do, huh?"

"It is forbidden," Ghost said slowly and clearly, as if speaking to a child. "Do you know what might happen to you? To both of us, if you're caught?"

Jayesh laughed mirthlessly. "They're already going to kick me out of the Tower. A little more exile won't hurt."

Ghost made a sound like a sigh. "Must you go through with this?"

"Yes." Jayesh was firm.

"Then ..." Ghost hesitated. "I can program the autopilot. And a huge storm is forecast for tomorrow. It will give us the cover we need to approach the Traveler without being seen."

Jayesh looked up, a delighted smile spreading across his face. "Really? You'd do that?"

Ghost twirled his four segments. "I'm in this whether I like it or not. I might as well make sure we don't fail. But don't blame me if the Traveler smites you."

* * *

Jayesh chartered a small ship, which was regular enough. New Guardians flew often as part of their training.

"Watch the storm," air traffic control told him over the radio. "Visibility is negligible tonight."

"Acknowledged," Jayesh replied. "Flight path is filed."

"Acknowledged."

His proposed path took him around the city in a figure-8 pattern, passing beneath the Traveler twice. Nobody had questioned it. So far, so good.

Jayesh lifted off in the old, clunky ship and set off across the city, gaining altitude as he went. Lightning flashed across the sky. Rain clouded his cockpit canopy.

He completed the first loop of the figure-8, gently gaining altitude all the time. As he turned back for the second pass, Ghost said, "Radio communications are experiencing high levels of interference. I don't like this."

"Probably just the storm," Jayesh replied, lightning crackling across the sky and dazzling him.

He slowed the ship and engaged the hover thrusters. The ship coasted up beneath the Traveler, aiming for the gap missing from its bottom hemisphere. The rain cut off as they entered the lee side.

"Training Guardian," air traffic control said, "you are too close to the Traveler. Watch your altitude."

"Correcting," Jayesh replied. He flipped the radio off and murmured, "Ghost, how close can you get us?"

"As close as necessary," the robot replied, taking wireless control of the ship. "Get out there and I'll boost you in. Don't fall."

Jayesh's mouth went dry. Don't fall - like when he had fallen off the cliff, cartwheeling in midair, striking the stone and bouncing off with broken limbs ...

No, he couldn't think about it. Focus on climbing into the Traveler. There might be force fields at work to keep out intruders, and he'd have to deal with that. Beyond that, he had no idea what to expect inside.

He opened the hatch on top of the ship and climbed out into the chilly, windy night. Even here, on the sheltered side of the Traveler, wind swirled and gusted, carrying snatches of rain. The damaged underbelly of the Traveler loomed close by, all jagged metal struts and twisted cross-bracing. Jayesh crouched on top of the wet, slippery ship. "Closer, Ghost!"

The ship rose a little closer to the spiky, dangerous metal. Jayesh forced himself to stand and reach for the nearest beam, without looking at the surrounding City, so far below him. He caught hold of the metal and pulled himself up. He rolled across the exposed cross-bracing and clambered into the solid portion of the Traveler, stumbling over rough shapes he couldn't see in the dimness. "Ghost, I'm in!"

The training ship sank away from the Traveler, rotating itself to return back to the airbase. Ghost materialized beside Jayesh in a sparkle of blue light motes. "It's done. But Jay, something's happening out there. Look."

Jayesh peered out the hole in the Traveler. At first he saw nothing but the city, bathed in golden streetlights beneath the rain. His stomach swooped giddily. Then lightning flashed through the clouds, illuminating a fleet of alien ships hidden inside them. They were barely a mile away and closing fast.

"What are those?" Jayesh whispered.

The first missiles erupted on the City wall, engulfing the Tower in orange flame.

"No!" Jayesh and Ghost screamed at the same time.

Their home, the other Guardians, the defenders of the city-all vanished in one huge fireball.

"Could you heal a Guardian from that?" Jayesh breathed.

"Yes," Ghost said, "if I hadn't been incinerated, too. But surely the Commander saw it coming. Surely they were able to get out. Surely ..."

They watched as the ships emerged from the storm, an entire armada, and began bombing the City. But largest and most unnerving was a huge claw-like thing that unfolded and advanced on the Traveler itself.

"They mean to take the Traveler," Ghost whispered, his voice trembling. "Jayesh, get further inside! As far as you can! Now!"

What should have been a slow, rapt exploration of wonder became a mad rush and scramble. Ghost flicked on his headlamp and helped Jayesh climb through the outer broken layers of metal, where the Light had been torn from the Traveler's side and dumped on the earth to rot. Fine, sharp metal edges scored his armor and cut into the soft suit beneath. By the time he reached the intact areas that still glowed with blue Light, his hands and the sides of his legs were scored and bleeding.

Ghost traced him with a healing scan, mending the cuts. "The quality of Light here means my abilities are far enhanced. But I don't know what we may find further inside."

Jayesh stood still, panting, allowing himself to gaze upon the inside of the Traveler, which no mortal or Guardian had ever seen.

The structure of it reminded him of the beautiful architecture he had seen in history books of Old Earth. Concentric rings supported by arches climbed higher and higher above him. It was all metal, some unknown alloy that was thin as paper and stronger than steel. No wonder it had cut him up. It was arranged in spheres within spheres. He was only in the outer shell, the inner sphere smooth and yet detailed with nameless markings, like runic circuitry.

Every inch of the architecture swirled with Light. It flickered along arches and swirled in the rings, obscuring his view. It was like mist, or lightning, or water, yet nothing like any of them. It was simply Light, living and going about its incomprehensible business.

"It's like the neurons in a brain," Ghost murmured, watching the Light play through the Traveler. "We caught it in theta state. Dream time."

"What might it look like if it was awake?" Jayesh said in a low voice. Suddenly he was afraid of awakening this great, mechanical being. "They say it's been comatose since before the City was built."

"So they say," Ghost replied, watching the Light swirl. "Just because a being is deaf and blind doesn't mean they're comatose."

A wisp of light broke free from the rest and curled around Jayesh, wrapping around his torso and limbs like an exploring tendril before vanishing back into the rest of the Traveler.

"What was that?" Jayesh breathed.

"I think," Ghost said, "I think it knows we're here."

At that moment, a boom echoed through the Traveler like the clang of a bell. The Light went crazy, speeding up into flashes and firework explosions. The metal trembled underfoot.

"The invaders attached their machine," Ghost whispered. "This is bad, Jay. If they drill into the Traveler, we're right here."

"Time to go further up," Jayesh replied. He crawled through the grating and began to climb the supports, careful not to look down. Ghost flew alongside him, keeping watch for any threat. Of course, here inside the Traveler, it was hard to know what a threat might look like. Would the Light, itself, attack them? Would it create a form for itself, the way a Ghost could reassemble a human body? There was really no limit to what the Traveler could do.

The Guardian and Ghost worked their way deeper and deeper into the Traveler. The whole structure resonated with terrifying booms and crashes as something happened to the outside. Then, after an hour of this, everything went silent.

The Light that illuminated the structure began to calm down. In fact, it calmed too much, dimming to an ember-like glow. But every so often, another wisp would appear, explore Jayesh, and vanish.

"It's keeping tabs on me," he observed. "What do you think it might do?"

"I don't know," Ghost replied. "We're inside a super-sentient being. We must not underestimate it."

Jayesh climbed until he reached a new level among the arches and rings. He was nowhere near the center, but he was beginning to see the way the whole structure coiled in upon itself, protecting the inner sphere. The rings were closer together, tighter, the gaps too small to crawl through.

He sat on a support beam and studied the structure. "I think this is as far as I can go."

Ghost scanned their surroundings. "Yes. This place was never designed for living beings. I suppose, if you wanted to commune with the Light, this is as good a spot as any."

Jayesh was ready. He rested in the spot where two beams joined together, and closed his eyes. Inside his head, he reached for the Light.

 _Here I am._

At once, more wisps of Light appeared and encircled him, investigating. Jayesh kept his eyes closed. He relaxed, opening himself to the being who had resurrected him.

 _Please agree to speak with me. I have questions._

Light danced before his eyelids, bright enough to see with his eyes closed. The Light inside him responded, flickering and burning. For the first time, he sensed his own spark, the source of his own life, his spirit that formed the core of his being.

A wisp of light swirled through him, warm, powerful, electrical. Jayesh jumped and opened his eyes. The Light was no longer investigating his outside - it was inside him, too, testing his personal Light.

 _Guardian._

It was the faintest of whispers in his mind, rather like Ghost's voice. But Ghost floated beside him, watching the Light in worried silence.

 _Here I am_ , Jayesh thought.

The Light encircling him grew brighter, more intense, rippling over his skin in veins of lightning.

 _Why have you come, Guardian?_

Jayesh thought, _Many have communed with the Darkness. I wish to commune with the Light._

 _Is that so_. The Light changed its focus, brightening and lancing through him until it was almost painful. _Then you must come to me._


	3. Chapter 3: The big questions

Jayesh and his ghost dissolved into twinkles of light. Instantly, they reappeared inside the Traveler's core, a quarter of a mile from their starting point.

Here was a vast spherical space. It was all Light, without a single shadow. Jayesh couldn't see what he sat on, couldn't see his ghost, couldn't see anything. He covered his face with both arms, and even that scarcely helped.

Ghost phased into him. In his head, Ghost said, "Here is the Great Consciousness, from which I was made. Your life hangs in the balance now, Jayesh."

It was watching him, looking straight through his flesh and bones to his inner being. Jayesh felt naked. There was no hiding from a being of Light, not when he was crafted from the same stuff it was. He couldn't see it, but it was there, right in front of him. He was at its mercy, now.

Shivering in rising terror, he curled into a ball and hid his face.

"Guardian Jayesh," the Traveler said. The voice came from inside him, outside him, everywhere. "The arrogant seeker. The failed student. He who craves knowledge at the expense of wisdom." It was making an observation, not passing judgment.

Jayesh opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again. The Traveler saw through his excuses as they formed in his mind. Here, in this place, there was no hiding or pretending.

He mustered his courage and his reason for being here. "Traveler," he said, raising his head, blinded even though his eyes were closed. "Why do you not speak to your Guardians and Ghosts? They say that you lie in a coma, unaware of humanity's plight."

"I am damaged," the Traveler replied. "However, I have not been idle. The Last City yet stands. It is under attack by the followers of Darkness. They have applied a cage to my outer shell, thinking to trap my Light. My Guardians are cut off for a time."

Horror sank through Jayesh in a wave. "The Guardians have no Light? Sir - Traveler - they'll die!"

"Some, yes," the Traveler said, a note of sorrow entering its voice for the first time. "I have sent them visions, a way of regaining what is lost. It is up to them whether to take it."

"So ..." Jayesh struggled to make sense of this. "You can't be blind if you know what's happening."

"My ghosts are my senses," the Traveler replied. "I know all through them. My Guardians have dared set foot in many dangerous places, often paying a high price for the knowledge they gain. I know what they know."

Jayesh thought of his shameful scores. His brethren routinely went out and fought monsters, while he couldn't climb a wall fast enough to reach the top.

"Sir ... I can't seem to qualify as a Guardian. I'm weak. Was I a mistake?"

"Interesting question." Although Jayesh couldn't see it, he felt the Light pass through him, slowly and thoughtfully. It retrieved his ghost and pulled it out into the Light. Jay tried to see what was happening, but he could barely open his eyes, let alone see anything.

"Child Ghost," the Traveler said. "Birthed from my own heart. Do you believe you made a mistake?"

"No, Great One," Ghost replied. "I detected his spark and knew he was my Guardian. I believe that he can overcome his weakness."

"Your faith is commendable," the Traveler replied. "But you ... Guardian Jayesh ... the manner of your death has made you fearful. You fear to test your limits. You fear death and darkness. Yet your fear drove you to seek the Light, and you did not quail before it."

Jay sat still, wondering if he was being scolded or praised.

"You are a Guardian," the Traveler concluded. "There was no mistake. You are mine, and my Light is yours."

A hard, cold knot under Jayesh's ribs began to loosen. No matter what Commander Zavala said, Jayesh was meant to be a Guardian. The Traveler, itself, had said so.

Ghost said from nearby, "Great One, the enemy is attacking you. What can we do to help?"

"Stand here and wait," the Traveler replied. "I speak to you now from the depths of dream time. I wait, I rest, I think. But the tide has begun to turn. As it once swept out, it will return, higher and stronger than before."

Jayesh tried to open his eyes. He managed to blink a few times. Either the light was weakening, or he was better able to bear it. He had an impression of a vast spherical space, the walls and floor made of Light itself, blue and shimmering. The source of the Light occupied the center of the sphere, but it was as bright as the sun and he couldn't look directly at it.

"Traveler," Jayesh said, "I have more questions for you."

"Ask," the Traveler replied. "You are sealed inside the cage with me and cannot depart. We might as well pass the time in conversation." Its voice held a hint of amusement. Was it laughing at him? Or the idea of a cage? Either way, it gave him courage.

Jayesh drew a deep breath. "They say that wherever you go, the Darkness follows. Why do you run from it when you are so powerful?" He cringed a little at the boldness of his words.

"When I was created," the Traveler replied, unperturbed, "I was appointed to certain tasks. This universe is the domain of the Darkness. It has devoured and ravaged every planet, moon, and star, to various degrees. Most of all, it despises life. All life. Its goal is to render all worlds sterile and uninhabitable. It has said so, in its mad ravings disguised as philosophy. You read the Books of Sorrow. It speaks of entropy and the Sword Logic. It does not mention that it, itself, is the cause of that entropy."

The Light faded a fraction. Jayesh felt it as overwhelming sadness radiating from the Traveler. Beside him, his Ghost sighed mournfully.

"Therefore," the Traveler continued, "I and others like me were sent to this universe by the Light we serve. My task was to heal and restore what the Darkness has ravaged. I sought people who were capable of embracing the Light. I offered it to many, but only a few accepted it. I empowered them and beautified their worlds. The Darkness hates this and hates my work. It seeks out and attempts to destroy what I have made. Many people I have helped fell to the Darkness, whether by war or seduction. Those you call the Fallen slipped from my grasp in their pursuit of power. I could no longer help them and was forced to abandon them to their fate. I still mourn them all."

Jayesh processed this for a while. "So, why don't you fight for your people? You fought for Earth."

"It is not my task to fight," the Traveler replied. "That has been appointed to others. A war rages across the cosmos that no mortal eye will ever see, but it destroys stars and leaves ruin in its wake. Without this continuous war, the Darkness would long ago have devoured everything."

"But ..." Jayesh hesitated. "You did fight. It's why you're damaged."

The Traveler laughed, the light brightening and turning a warm gold. Jayesh felt the laughter inside him - a pure, joyful merriment. He laughed, too, although he didn't know why.

"You humans are different from the other peoples of the universe," the Traveler said. "Light and Darkness is forever bound up together in your hearts. When I came to you, I was astounded. I had heard news of your existence, of course. Others before me had done great works among you in other guise than this. But I had never before encountered Light so fierce in mortal beings before. When the Darkness came for you, you cried out to me.

"Many things happened then. One of your puny Warminds entreated with me, threatening to attack if I considered leaving. I laughed at it. It attacked, which did nothing. But I hear rumors that people believe the Warmind stopped me from leaving. This is a lie."

"What happened, then?" Jayesh asked. "We have no records of that day."

"Thank the Light you do not," the Traveler replied. "The Darkness, itself, came with the Great Worms. Merely to behold them causes madness and death. But the Light commanded me to stand still. I obeyed. It was granted to me the ability not just to nurture, but to protect - to protect my people as ferociously as a bear with her cubs. Your people beheld the battle as a great storm, with deep darkness and flashes of light, with strange shapes in the sky and the voices of death, itself, upon the wind.

"In the end, I broke the Darkness's weapons and cast them in ruin into the void. The Darkness retreated, leaving me fearfully damaged. It had been given to me to protect, but for a time, I could not. So I created the Ghosts. They went out into the world to recover from time and space fallen servants of the Light. These would be the defenders of humanity against agents of the Darkness while I healed."

Jayesh marveled at this, relishing the information, pondering every word. "You keep saying that the Light granted you things. Is the Light alive?"

The Traveler's smile was as warm as the spring sunshine. "There are other domains outside this universe. Just as mortals cannot truly comprehend the Darkness, they cannot comprehend the Light. I am but a servant of greater entities. Surely Earth has memory of such things."

Jayesh slowly shook his head. "It must be truly ancient lore. I'll have to study further."

"Ah, but you are young, yet," the Traveler said. "You have only been Risen a few months. Seek, and you will find. Beware the Darkness. It will seek to seduce you at every turn. It hates Guardians as it hates me."

Jayesh nodded at this warning. He had felt the Darkness's lure simply by reading about it.

But now he was tired. The constant onslaught of Light and his own near-blindness exhausted him in a way that days of physical training couldn't do.

"Might I rest?" he asked. "Your Light is too great for me."

"Yes," the Traveler replied. "Even now, your kind crave both light and darkness. Rest. We shall speak more later."

Jayesh and his ghost dissolved into particles and teleported back into the dim, damaged region in the Traveler's outer circles. It set them in a spot with a mostly level floor, devoid of any sharp, broken metal.

"Bless the Traveler," Jayesh murmured, stretching out on his side. Spots danced before his eyes. "I might be permanently blind, Ghost."

Ghost ran a healing scan over him. "Your retinas do show some damage. I can repair it. Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"No," Jayesh said. "Only tired." He closed his eyes and slept.


	4. Chapter 4: Ghaul's argument

He awakened to see daylight filtering through the Traveler's damaged hull. Jayesh sat up and blinked at the nearest hole. It looked like there was a pane of glass over it. He climbed to his feet and cautiously made his way to the hole. Ghost emerged from his phased state and followed him.

It wasn't glass - it was an energy shield that burned Jayesh's hand when he touched it. This must be the cage the Traveler had mentioned. Jayesh peered out at the Last City.

To his horror, the City lay in ruins. Some neighborhoods had been reduced to nothing but rubble. The main highways had been preserved, and now Red Legion craft and soldiers crawled along them. Smoke rose from a thousand points. Fires burned red.

Jayesh made an incoherent cry and sank to the floor. His heart withered away inside him. The City was taken.

"Ghost," he whispered, "the Guardians have no Light. They stood no chance." Then he wept. Once in a while he gazed out, taking in new details of the devastation, then crumpled up and wept again. Ghost gazed out, too, then sank down to rest on the floor beside Jayesh, his eye-light dim.

The pair of them mourned for the City for a long time. Then Jayesh grew angry. "Here we sit, inside the Traveler! Why did it allow this? Cage or no cage, it should have protected all those people!" He scrambled to his feet, mopping his face. "Traveler! I have a grievance to discuss with you!"

The familiar wisp of Light appeared and encircled him. "Welcome, Guardian Jayesh," it whispered.

It teleported him and his Ghost, not to the sphere of light, but a different chamber. The walls and floor shimmered with blue light, and sparkles of it hung in the air. It was much dimmer, less overwhelming than the Traveler's actual presence.

As Jayesh stood there, gazing around, his Ghost floating near his shoulder, another Guardian materialized. This was a man wrapped heavily in robes and a hood, perhaps a hunter, although he carried no weapons. He pushed back his hood and gazed at Jayesh with eyes the same glowing blue of the Light around them.

"Who are you?" Jayesh asked.

"An avatar of the Traveler," the figure replied. "This form will be easier for you to communicate with. Now, tell me. What is your grievance?"

"They've destroyed the City!" Jayesh cried. "While you sleep, innocent men, women, and children have been slaughtered in the streets! Your Guardians have perished!" He grabbed the Traveler by the robe and shook him. "You're supposed to be our protector! Why did you allow this?"

The Traveler shoved him away with a casual strength that could have broken every bone in Jayesh's body. "You are distraught. Calm yourself. You cannot understand me in this state."

Jayesh staggered away, then faced the Traveler again, fists at his sides. "Calm myself? The Cabal take no prisoners, Traveler! There is no longer a City! There may not be a human race anymore!"

The Traveler watched him in silence, implacable.

Jayesh ranted on, describing what he had seen outside, how the Traveler had the power to break its cage and save them all, and it didn't, therefore it had betrayed them. "Maybe the Darkness has the right idea! Maybe you really are a blight on the universe!"

The Traveler folded his arms and rolled his eyes, like a parent with a child during a tantrum.

Jayesh paused for breath. He wanted to hit that blank face so badly. He may not be the strongest Guardian, and the Traveler would probably crush him, but he wanted to try.

The Traveler faced him. "I am operating in dream state, Guardian Jayesh. If you were sleeping in your bed and a strong man bound your limbs, would you have any hope of defeating him?"

"No," Jayesh muttered. "But when I woke up, I would get free and fight."

"As will I," the Traveler said. "I have been asleep many centuries. The awakening takes time. You think I do not grieve over every life lost? You think I don't care? Your sorrow is nothing to mine, Guardian Jayesh. This room ..." He gestured to the blue room made of Light. "This is a reflection of my grief. You could not stand before me now because my Light burns with anger and sorrow. I failed at my charge. You know helpless rage. I know failed responsibility. Whose pain is the greater?"

Jayesh couldn't answer. He simply stood there, crushed by grief and unable to ease it. Finally he turned his back on the avatar. "I can't talk any more right now."

The Traveler withdrew in a swirl of atmosphere. Jayesh sat against the wall and stared at the rippling blue Light flowing through the floor. He sat there a long time, his Ghost maintaining a respectful silence.

* * *

Jayesh awoke from a doze, or trance, or some other state where his mind wandered away into irrelevant thoughts that didn't hurt anymore. The Traveler's robed avatar sat on the floor against the wall across from him, reclined with one elbow resting on a knee.

As Jayesh stirred, the Traveler lifted a hand in greeting.

"What do you want?" Jayesh muttered.

"Since you are here," the Traveler said, "and since I am not yet fully awakened, I desire your assistance."

Jayesh straightened a little. "My assistance?" Beside him, his ghost perked up a little.

"Yes." The Traveler rose to his feet. "I have been presented with a matter of judgment, and you make a tolerable jury."

Jayesh scrambled to his feet, curiosity overcoming his resentment. What in the world could the Traveler be up to now?

The blue room evaporated away on three sides. Now they stood on the outskirts of a dark room with a single spotlight in the center. In this spotlight stood a huge member of the Cabal, dressed in white armor and tabard, with a mask over his nose and mouth.

Jayesh reached for his pistol, which wasn't at his side - he'd come here unarmed.

The Traveler raised a calming hand. "This is merely an image of the true being. Dominus Ghaul occupies his flagship outside."

"You mean ..." Jayesh stared at the unusual armor. "This is the leader? The one who sacked the City?"

"And placed the cage on me, yes."

Jayesh clenched his fists and bared his teeth. "Kill him. Burn him to ash where he stands."

"He has presented me with an interesting case," the Traveler said. "He came here because he desires the Light. In essence, he wishes to become a Guardian."

"What?" Jayesh cried. "He butchered us! He's Cabal! How dare he!" He ran at the illusion and swung at the leathery face. His fist passed through it harmlessly.

The Traveler watched without expression as Jayesh savaged the hologram from all angles. Finally, the young Guardian fell back, panting.

"So," the Traveler said, "you have already decided that Dominus Ghaul deserves death."

"For what he did to us, yes," Jayesh panted. "You don't think so?"

The Traveler gestured at the hologram. "Listen to his arguments."

The hologram began to move. Ghaul paced forward and back, speaking in a guttural voice. "Do you see, Traveler, all that I have done? Grace me with your Light. Take your place at the center of my empire." He gazed upward, at the unseen moon-like Traveler off-screen. "See me, and the Red Legion will be your true Guardians."

Jayesh listened in growing consternation. "He called to you directly? For your Light? He serves the Darkness! His whole race does! How could they ever be Guardians?"

"I listen to all who call," the Traveler said. "Humanity is not the first race I have enriched."

Sudden terror pierced Jayesh - the fear that the Traveler might actually heed Ghaul, might leave Earth, travel to the Cabal's home world, and bless them with Light. Meanwhile, Earth would be abandoned to the ravages of Darkness, without Light, or ghosts, or Guardians.

"You're not going to take him up on it, are you?" Jayesh said, barely able to move his lips.

The Traveler shrugged. "This is his opening salvo. His more elaborate arguments came later. Tell me, Guardian Jayesh. What does the Darkness require of its servants?"

Jayesh gulped, thinking of the fouler parts of the Books of Sorrow. "It enslaves its followers. If they don't devour in its name, it will devour them."

The Traveler inclined his head. "Very good. Just as the Darkness has requirements, so I, too, have requirements. Mercy for the undeserving. Justice for the oppressed. Righteousness that drives the heart to seek out what is good."

Jayesh pointed at the hologram. "Are you saying that this Ghaul is more righteous than your own chosen Guardians? We've _died_ for you, Traveler!"

The Traveler nodded. "I am fully aware of that, Guardian Jayesh. The question is ... is Ghaul, too, aware of it?" He faced the hologram. "He shall be tested."

The hologram jumped forward. Ghaul appeared in slightly different light, indicating that this was a different time.

"Tell me, what makes your Guardians worthy of the Light? What is the price of such power and immortality?"

The Traveler said to the hologram, "Devotion. Self-sacrifice. Death."

Ghaul blinked, as if he'd heard this. "Death? Explain."

The Traveler continued, "Devotion inspires bravery. Bravery inspires sacrifice. Sacrifice ... leads to death."

Jayesh shivered, thinking again about plummeting to his own death. Had that been some kind of sacrifice that the Traveler accepted? The memories were too faint to figure out more.

Ghaul appeared to consider this. "Devotion ... sacrifice. I was born an outcast, a runt. As is custom with the Cabal, I was cast aside and left for dead. I was taken in by an old scholar, himself disgraced, who saw in me something ... redeemable. He raised me, taught me, trained me, and in return, I would become a vehicle for his revenge against an empire that failed him, and failed itself. Rejection, ridicule, torment ... it made me stronger. I gave everything to win not just acceptance ... but glory." Ghaul leaned toward the Traveler and Jayesh, as if he could see them. "Beneath my mask is the face of devotion and sacrifice. I will not take the Light by force; to do so would be to admit failure. And I never fail! Now, do you see why I would be chosen?"

The Traveler said quietly, "I see now. I see all you have done."

But Ghaul turned away, interrupted, and the video ended.

Jayesh stood still, watching this. While he had new insight into Ghaul and his motives now, he was still fearful and confused. He needed time to think about this.

Even more disconcerting, the Traveler's entire vast attention was fixed on this alien and his words. Jayesh sensed it, as he sensed the Light flowing through him. The Traveler was awakening quickly now, the dream state slipping away. The robed avatar looked different, too, somehow - taller, with more intense reds and browns in his clothes.

"Ghost," Jayesh whispered, "when the Traveler awakens, it won't be safe to stay here."

"You think?" Ghost whispered back.

The Traveler turned to them. "What of these arguments? Is Ghaul worthy of the Light?"

"Who is worthy?" Jayesh snapped. "We humans didn't ask for the Light. You just gave it to us."

"Ah, the problem of the free gift," the Traveler said, rubbing his chin. "I am always listening for those who cry out to me, even in the faintest, most faltering way. Ghaul follows the detestable customs of his race, accustomed as they are to following the directives of the Darkness. Yet he desires the Light."

"So he can use it to destroy more innocent people!" Jayesh cried. "Look at him! Healing and peace are the last things on his mind."

"You don't know what is truly in his heart," the Traveler said. "At present, neither do I. However, I find his arguments provocative."

The theater dimmed, the hologram disappearing. The blue room reappeared around Jayesh. This time it came with a fair facsimile of an armchair and a bed, each made of swirling blue light.

"Since you may be here for some time," the Traveler said, "make yourself comfortable."

"What about food and water?" Jayesh said, sitting cautiously in the chair. He didn't feel hungry or thirsty, but that could be due to shock.

"You will not need those as long as you're here," the Traveler replied. "You were created from Light, and by Light you are sustained."

Jayesh looked at the Traveler's avatar, opening his mouth to thank him. But the words froze on his tongue. The Traveler had lowered his hood. On one side of his face was a star-shaped black mark, the same pattern as the claw outside that gripped the Traveler's hull.

"You're hurt," Jayesh whispered.

The Traveler raised a hand to the mark with a wince. "Yes. At present, there is nothing you can do about that. Rest and ponder this strange case presented to me."

He vanished. Jay let himself sink into the armchair, which was comfortable in all the right places. His tired body relaxed.

"Ghost," he said to the little robot, "what do you think? Can a crazy Cabal general be worthy of the Light?"

Ghost twirled his segments one way, then the other. "He does make compelling arguments. But ... I'm afraid we have nothing by which to judge him except his actions. And his actions have been to slaughter humanity and blight the Traveler. What are we to make of that?"

Jayesh grudgingly tried to put himself in the place of Ghaul. "If I were him ... I'd be some hated orphan who clawed my way up the ranks of my evil, nasty people. All I'd know would be evil and the search for power. To someone like that, the Traveler would be a giant battery, more accessible than the Darkness. Maybe he doesn't want to join the Hive. I mean, the Hive's religion is that eating you frees you from bodily existence. Kind of hard to capture any power from that. Maybe Ghaul sees the Traveler as an easy mark."

"But he must have a good motive in there, somewhere," Ghost pointed out. "Otherwise, why would the Traveler listen to him?"

Jayesh sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I just can't see any of the Cabal having any kind of Light in them. Hey, wait, don't you have to have a spark to be a Guardian?"

"Yes," Ghost replied, "but the Traveler watches over all humanity, remember? Guardians are merely the chosen soldiers who protect them."

"Oh yeah." Jayesh leaned his head into the back of the Light chair. "So, let's take Ghaul at face value. Setting aside all the people he's murdered as part of his culture or whatever, is it possible that he might want to serve the Light?"

"That might be the crux of the matter," Ghost replied. "Does he want to serve the Light ... or have it serve him?"

Jay shook his head. "He argues for himself pretty well, talking about sacrifice. But actions speak louder than words. He's a ruthless, seasoned killer. Do the Cabal have any kind of morality?"

"Going by their past history, not really," Ghost replied. "Their worldview is that there is only power, and those too weak to seek it."

"How could he possibly know anything about the Light, then?" Jayesh replied. "The Light is the exact opposite. It extends help to the weak and helpless. It heaps mercy upon mercy. I don't think Ghaul would recognize mercy if it came up and bit his ugly nose."

"Who can say?" Ghost said. "We know only one abbreviated argument. Perhaps he will make a more eloquent statement later? I assume the Traveler was listening to his actual words, somehow. Great stars, do you think Ghaul was speaking to a captured Guardian?"

The idea made Jayesh sick. The Traveler heard everything through its ghosts and Guardians. It stood to reason that Ghaul had delivered this speech to some helpless Guardian in an interrogation room somewhere.

"I hope not," Jayesh breathed. "But if so ... may the Light have mercy."


	5. Chapter 5: Wounded

Time passed. Jayesh wasn't sure how much time. He slept and awakened, refreshed. Around him, the Traveler seemed imperceptibly more awake. Perhaps it was a growing hum at the edge of hearing. Perhaps it was the faintest scent of vanilla. Or perhaps it was the way the blue light swirled in the walls, somehow more energetic.

Jayesh touched the wall, watching the Light swirl around his fingertips. "Traveler ... you're awakening."

The robed avatar materialized. He was grinning a wide, white smile, despite the black mark spreading up his cheek.

"What?" Jayesh said, taken aback. "What's happened?"

"One of my Guardians has recovered their Light," the Traveler replied. "One single, brave soul who sought out my aid despite the terrible dangers facing them. They carry my blessing forevermore."

"But ... how?" Jayesh struggled to understand. "We're caged. There's no Light left."

"Long ago, a piece was torn from me," the Traveler replied. He pulled aside his robe and showed a puckered scar below his ribcage. It exactly corresponded to the hole in the bottom hemisphere through which Jayesh had entered.

"That piece now lies on the earth," the Traveler explained, letting his robe fall into place. "It contains Light, darkened and polluted though it may be. A very determined Guardian and Ghost could make use of it."

Jayesh grinned and danced in place. "Thank the Light! Even one Guardian will make a huge difference. I wish I were out there, too!"

"You would have no Light," the Traveler said, his smile fading. "Likely, you would already be dead. Be thankful you made the choice to come to me when you did. Here, you are hidden from our enemies."

"But if you die," Jayesh said slowly, "so will I."

The Traveler bowed his head, one hand lightly touching the spreading mark on his face. "Yes. That is a possibility. But we may also live. That is also a possibility. The Vex deal in possibilities, seeking to harness all of time. But I was master of it long before they dreamed of such things." He gave Jayesh a long look. "You shall simply have to trust me, Guardian."

Jayesh nodded wordlessly. Nobody ever spoke of the Vex so casually, nor their concerted efforts to mold time into a probability where they assimilated the universe. Like the Hive, they, too, wished to consume all, because that was the desire of the Darkness. To hear the Traveler speak of them as toddling newcomers gave hope to Jayesh such as he had never felt before. The Light truly was greater than the Darkness.

"Do - do we win?" Jayesh asked haltingly. "At the end of time. Does the Light ever defeat the Darkness? Or does the universe end in blood and death?"

The Traveler gave him a solemn look. "Blood and death, yes. This universe will perish in fire. But the Darkness with perish with it. In the end, the Light remains. And its servants shall remain with it. It has been foretold, and so it shall be."

Jayesh trembled a little with joy and fear. As a Guardian, with no true age limit to his life, he might live to see the final end of the universe and the Darkness.

But that was far in the uncertain future. For now, he was trapped inside a rapidly awakening Traveler. It might mean a strange death as his Light was absorbed into it.

"Now," the Traveler said, clapping his hands, "back to the question of Ghaul. What have you two decided?"

Jayesh and his ghost exchanged glances.

"Well sir," Jayesh said, "we haven't really decided anything. Ghaul may be seeking to serve you ... or he may want you to serve him. We don't know enough about him, yet."

"Then let the debate continue." The Traveler raised a hand, wiping away three walls, and opening the dark room with the spotlight in the middle. A hologram of Ghaul stood there, frozen with one arm in midair.

Jayesh clenched a fist, but didn't bother attacking the image this time. This was a debate, not a fight. He had to stay calm enough to listen, so he could win this argument.

The hologram began to move. Ghaul was stalking back and forth, frustration boiling off every line of him.

"For one who calls himself "Speaker", you have remarkably little to say. We've learned that one of your Guardians has reconnected to the Light. You say you have no power over the Traveler, yet ... this. Help me understand, Speaker."

Jayesh groaned. "He has the Speaker. Oh, Traveler, intercede for him!"

The Traveler lifted a hand. He spoke to Ghaul's image. "The Light lives in all places, in all things. You can block it, even try to trap it, but the Light will find its way. And the Traveler will protect itself!"

Jayesh shivered a little, watching this. The Speaker was relaying the Traveler's actual words, somehow, to the actual Ghaul. Maybe this hologram wasn't a recording. Maybe the Traveler was passing through time to the moments where it was needed in the discussion.

Ghaul halted, pondering these words. "The Traveler ... for years, I have studied it, the worlds it has touched, its power over life and death. We are not so different, your Traveler and I."

Jayesh watched, impressed, as the Traveler smiled savagely, playing the part of prosecutor. "You are nothing like the Traveler! Nothing! You think you have power? Control? I know your kind. You started small... you will end small."

Ghaul was not above being baited. He snarled, "If the Traveler truly has chosen humanity of its own free will, then there is no reason I shouldn't reach inside, tear out the Light for myself, and leave this system in ashes!"

The Traveler lowered his voice. "Only those the Traveler chooses will be reborn in the Light."

Ghaul heaved a deep breath, steadying himself. "Yes... this I know. This is why I have claimed your planet, and why you still live. The Traveler will choose me, Speaker... and you are going to tell me how."

The video ended. Jayesh didn't say anything. He merely looked at the Traveler with his best I-told-you-so expression.

The Traveler shrugged. "Today, we see deeper into Dominus Ghaul's motivations."

"And he's a scumbag," Jayesh said. "Did you see that he's torturing the Speaker?"

The Traveler nodded.

"And you're okay with that?" Jayesh snarled. "The Speaker worships you as no other man does! And those monsters are doing who knows what to him!"

"Precious to the Light is the death of its Guardians," the Traveler murmured. "I am communicating to Ghaul through him, guiding his words and thoughts. I have always done so, though the Speaker perhaps doesn't always realize it. Ghaul's cruelty to him is one reason why I have not accepted Ghaul in any way."

"So you do observe justice!" Jayesh exclaimed. "I was starting to think you were wishy-washy about who received your Light."

The Traveler glared at him - a frightening, penetrating look that instantly dried Jayesh's mouth.

"Justice," the Traveler said in a low voice. "True justice would be ending this universe this instant, along with the lives of everyone in it. No being touched by Darkness deserves Light, and every being alive is tainted. Justice can only be attained by the shedding of blood. If you wish for justice to be done upon your enemies, first acknowledge the Darkness within yourself."

Jayesh tried to back away from the menace in the Traveler's voice, but his feet were locked to the floor. He had gone too far, been a little too disrespectful, and had hit the Traveler's limit. "For - forgive me," he stammered. "I overstepped."

The fierce look in the Traveler's eyes faded. He returned his attention to Ghaul. Jayesh slumped to the floor, his feet no longer bound, moisture returning to his mouth.

"The young clamor for justice," the Traveler said, "but the old understand that mercy is infinitely more precious. I have the power to crush Ghaul and his armies in a single blow. Yet I bide my time, suffering the deaths of my beloved people, to show mercy to one tortured soul. And he is tortured, Guardian Jayesh. Ghaul is like an animal, never taught mercy or righteousness or love. He doesn't know what is right. He is a wayward child."

Jayesh considered his words carefully to avoid any more offense. "He is Cabal, and they're not known for their higher virtues. He says he won't take the Light by force, which is nice of him. Is it possible to take the Light that way?"

"His cage enables him to do so," the Traveler said.

Horror crept through Jayesh. "So ... if he did ... he would violate you."

The Traveler said nothing.

The idea of this grand, noble being wounded and violated by a monster as repulsive as Ghaul made Jayesh so sick that he doubled over and retched. Nothing came up but a few flickers of Light.

His Ghost was equally stricken. "Please, Traveler," he begged, "don't let that happen. Don't tolerate such hideous acts against you. The very Light inside us would darken."

"The day he attempts it," the Traveler said, "Dominus Ghaul will die."

The words had a weight that spread in ripples throughout the Traveler's structure. The blue light in the walls turned red, and so did the Traveler's eyes. A red nimbus surrounded him, and his robes seemed dipped in blood. The air grew hot. For an instant, Jayesh gazed upon the Traveler's wrath, and it was more awful than he had ever imagined.

Slowly the Light faded back into blue. A cool breeze fanned Jayesh's face. He sat on the floor, panting and cowering. His ghost floated behind him, trying to hide.

The Traveler turned to them, his blue eyes sad. "That probability grows ever more possible. Ghaul is under pressure from his advisors to take the Light and abandon this system."

The Traveler gestured to the hologram, which sprang to life. Ghaul seemed to look at him, waiting expectantly.

"All that I ask of you," the Traveler said, "is the humility to confess your crimes against me and my people. A disavowing of your evil ways. A devotion to righteousness."

Ghaul scowled and struck a blow to the camera. The Traveler actually staggered back a step, holding his face.

"More of your whining, Speaker! If your precious Traveler really demanded such things, you humans would be paragons of virtue." Ghaul leaned into the camera. "And you ... are ... not."

The hologram shut off.

The Traveler passed a hand across his face, leaving a streak of blood. His lips were swollen and bleeding.

Jayesh stared, aghast. The Traveler was his god, and seeing him so casually injured was like taking a knife through the heart. "He actually hit you?"

"As he strikes the Speaker, so he strikes me," said the Traveler.

Jayesh stood there, Ghaul's words ringing in his mind. "You know ... he's right. We don't follow your requirements, Traveler. Why do you tolerate us?"

The Traveler smiled with blood staining his teeth. "A little thing called grace, Guardian. Your race may not adhere to my standards, but they are aware they exist. And many of you do follow my teachings, craving the Light as your food and drink. One day, I hope that every member of the human race may be filled with my Light."

The Traveler wiped his bleeding mouth again. Jayesh watched, his heart cracking. "Let me help you and the Speaker. Somehow!"

The Traveler approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. The wrist was black with bruises, with raw scrapes up the arm until the sleeve hid it. More wounds the Speaker had experienced.

"Guardian Jayesh," the Traveler said softly, "it is not your task to fight at present. Your task is far harder - that of waiting with patience. I suffer with my people. I feel their injuries and deaths. You must wait and endure to the end, and you will be rewarded. At present, I value your arguments. Please continue to think and evaluate this conundrum presented to us. Now rest."

Jayesh found himself back in the blue room with its construct furniture. He crawled into the armchair, curled up, and wept. But now, he mourned not only the City and the Speaker, but the harm done to the Traveler itself.


	6. Chapter 6: The Light

After a long while, Jayesh calmed enough to talk to Ghost again.

"Ghaul wants the Light," he said, "but he wants to be worthy of it."

Ghost nodded, bobbing up and down in midair. "At least he's honest. But how can he expect to win the Traveler over by torturing one of his Guardians to death? Does he think the Traveler doesn't know?"

"He thinks it's only a machine," Jayesh said. "And ... it sort of is. But that's not all it is."

"He doesn't understand the Light," Ghost muttered. "None of the servants of Darkness do. The Vex are terrified of the Light, calling it That Which We Cannot Simulate."

Jayesh leaned back in the chair and dug his fingers into his hair. "The Traveler told Ghaul what it requires. Ghaul didn't like it. But when the Darkness makes similar demands, people think it's perfectly reasonable."

"Grace and mercy go against the base nature," Ghost replied. "The Darkness appeals to the base nature, while the Light appeals to the higher, spiritual virtues. One cannot serve two masters."

Jayesh sat in silence a moment, thinking about the conversation. "Did you notice how the Traveler changed the subject from that Guardian who regained their Light?"

"I did," Ghost replied, flying in a loop the loop. "Smoothly done, too! The Traveler made Ghaul angry with near-insults, driving the other Guardian out of mind."

Jayesh nodded. "I wish the Traveler would save the Speaker. The idea of him being tortured just ... it makes me sick." He opened and closed his hands, wishing for the weight of a sturdy scout rifle.

"You know what I think?" Ghost said. "I think it's a test. The Traveler is watching to see if Ghaul will show mercy to his prisoner. If he can change his actions in accordance with the Traveler's requirements, he will have taken a step toward becoming a Guardian."

"I don't know what scares me worse," Jayesh said. "The idea that the Speaker might die, or that Ghaul might win the Light."

* * *

Time passed. Jayesh wasn't sure how much time - there was no day or night inside the Traveler, home of Light. He slept and awoke, debated the Traveler, and slept again.

But one time when he awoke, the Traveler did not immediately appear. Jayesh called for him, but there was no answer.

"Something's wrong," he muttered to Ghost. "Look at the walls." The blue light crept through them sluggishly, far different from the energetic swirling of the previous days.

"What's Ghaul done now?" Ghost muttered. "Surely he hasn't drained the Light already. The Traveler said he would fight back."

"Maybe that other Guardian died," Jayesh suggested. "The one who had regained their light."

"Possible," Ghost said slowly. "But unlikely. Guardians are very hard to kill when they possess their Light. It's why Ghaul cut them off."

Jayesh paced around the room, feeling more like a prisoner every second. "Traveler," he called. "What's wrong? Can I help?"

At last the Traveler's avatar appeared. He leaned against the wall, every limb sagging. He slid down it to sit on the floor, head hanging. The black mark on his face had spread all the way to his eye.

Jayesh ran up and knelt beside him. "Traveler! What's happened?"

"The Speaker is slain," the Traveler replied heavily.

Jay sat on the floor, sudden pain piercing him. "Ghaul?"

The Traveler nodded. "His Consul, but Ghaul made no move to stop him. He was tired of Ghaul's debates and tried to force his hand. I'm afraid he succeeded, though the Consul lost his life in the process."

Jayesh remembered talking to the Speaker, how he'd always seemed so enigmatic and powerful. And now he was gone, tortured to death in such a way that the Traveler, itself, mourned his passing.

"I shepherded the Speaker's spark through the void, myself," the Traveler said. "He now resides in the domain of the Light, where he is being comforted and healed. My faithful servant will suffer no more."

"We'll avenge him," Jayesh said through his teeth. "Traveler, show me how to break this cage from the inside. I can disable their machine for you. Your Light will empower all Guardians once more, and they'll converge upon Ghaul and destroy him."

The Traveler smiled sadly. "I'm afraid that's not possible. Here, let me show you." He lifted a hand and brushed back the walls. They spun away in handfuls of blue motes like sparks from a fire.

The Traveler and Jayesh now sat on a support beam four feet wide in the outer layers of the Traveler's structure. The circles and arches that Jayesh had climbed when he had entered soared around them.

Penetrating this structure were seven vast drill things. Three on top, three half a mile below, awful barbed hooks that had pierced into the Traveler's metal and opened to catch deeply into it. But the very worst was the seventh thing, a probe. Jayesh stared, following it with his eyes. It had punched like a needle deep into the Traveler, putting out black coils of wire as it went. Everywhere these wires touched, they sucked the blue light out of the framework, feeding it into the probe. He couldn't see how deep the entire probe went. It looked like miles.

"Has it reached your core?" Jayesh asked, afraid of the answer.

The Traveler shook his head. "Their measurements were based on estimates. They believed my core was bigger than it is, so their probe stopped ten feet short of the mark. But it is still deep enough to siphon my Light for their purposes."

The black probe blurred. Jayesh angrily wiped his eyes. There really was no way he could dismantle this monster with his bare hands. It wasn't fair. What made Ghaul think he had the right to wound the Traveler this way?

The Traveler waved a hand, returning them to the blue room. "They are coming," he said quietly.

It was a simple statement, but the bottom dropped out of Jayesh's stomach. "Where?"

The Traveler traced a rectangle on the wall. It lit up to show the outside of the awful claw. There was a whole control structure built into it. Facing off on this structure were Ghaul and the single Guardian who had regained their Light.

"There is my remaining champion," the Traveler said, nodding. "Fighting to the death on our doorstep. Ah, my faithful Guardians. I cannot bear to lose any more of you."

Ghaul stepped into the middle of a vent connected to the Traveler. A whirlwind of sick-looking red Light surrounded him. "Look upon me!" he commanded, his voice transmitting clearly through the view screen. "Dominus of the Red Legion, annihilator of suns, razer of a thousand worlds, slayer of gods, and conqueror of the Light! I... AM... GHAUL! And I have become legend!"

He stepped out of the Light, glowing and empowered, and hurled blades of fire at the Guardian. The Guardian ran for cover.

"So, Ghaul took the Light after all," Jayesh said bitterly. "So much for his lofty arguments."

"I mourn him already," the Traveler replied. "If he could have brought himself to repent of his wickedness, he could have been a mighty instrument of healing and peace across the worlds. But that future is not to be. Tell me, Jayesh. What do you know of the Taken?"

Jayesh tore his eyes from the battle, startled. "The Taken? They're evil. Why?"

The Traveler held up a hand and rotated his wrist. "Elaborate. Tell me what they are."

The Guardian, also empowered by Light, pummeled Ghaul with explosion after explosion. Ghaul retreated back into the Light to consume more. Cloaked in another sick-looking whirlwind, Ghaul bellowed, "Your Traveler should have chosen me, and now it is too late! Look upon your dead god! It won't save humanity a second time! I am Ghaul! I claim what is mine!"

"What you stole, you mean," Jayesh snarled. It took him a moment to remember that the Traveler had asked him a question. "Right, so ... the Taken started out as Hive, right? But Oryx, their god-King, sold out to the Darkness itself. It gave him the ability to rip people straight out of reality and force them to stand before the Darkness and be devoured. They're sent back as these awful Darkness-ghost versions of themselves, but with no souls."

"Yes," the Traveler said, watching the battle. "Ghaul intends to do the same to his people, but with Light."

Jayesh tried to wrap his head around this. The Light didn't possess people that way. It empowered and healed - it didn't devour.

His ghost grasped this long before he did. He phased into being in order to scream, "No! No! Traveler! This must not be! It's an abomination!"

The Traveler inclined his head, still slumped against the wall like an injured man barely clinging to life. "Yes, dear Ghost. I know this. It grieves me that Ghaul knows so little of Light, and so much of the ways of Darkness. But look. He has rejected my law. He has slain my Speaker and my Guardians. He is fighting my remaining Guardian with stolen Light. And he means to use my Light to abandon his body and become an ascended being of power. He hopes that the Light will not cost him his soul, as the Darkness does. But he does not know the true price he will pay."

"The Guardian killed him!" Jayesh exclaimed, leaping to his feet in triumph. But his triumph turned to horror as the armor burned away. Ghaul ascended before the Traveler as a being made of liquid Light and smoke, beautiful, horrible, and utterly merciless.

"No," Jayesh whispered. "He's done it."

"Please, Traveler," Ghost begged. "The time for mercy is past. Don't let Ghaul commit this foul thing against himself, and against you."

The Traveler slowly climbed to his feet. The black mark had disfigured his face, and his robes were tattered. The wounds the Speaker had taken still marred the Traveler's face and hands, unhealed.

"The time has come," he said, drawing himself erect with a painful groan. "Guardian Jayesh, hold your ghost close. Ghost, you must not phase, no matter what happens, though that will be your instinct."

Jayesh cupped his hands around Ghost and folded him in his arms, excitement and terror prickling through him. "What's happening?"

"I am awakened," the Traveler said. "And I have readied a deadly blow. But unless I shelter you, both of you will die. Come." He opened his arms, as if offering a hug.

Jayesh stepped into the Traveler's embrace, leaning against the solid-feeling body. He didn't smell human - instead, the avatar smelled of ozone and wind high in the atmosphere, so fresh that it hurt the lungs. As the Traveler wrapped his arms around Jayesh, Jayesh realized there was a great wound in the avatar's chest, beneath the tunic. It would have been fatal in a human, like a huge hole drilled straight to the heart. Jayesh tried to speak and sobbed instead. Being so close to the Traveler, even in avatar form, was like being embraced by the father he had long forgotten. And that beloved figure was mortally wounded.

"Ghaul has crossed the final barrier," the Traveler said. "Close your eyes, both of you." His arms tightened around Jayesh.

The points of Ghost's shell dug into his arms. Jayesh covered Ghost's eye and shut his own tightly.

Outside, Ghaul bellowed, "Traveler! Do you see me now? I am immortal! A god! You have failed! Witness the dawning of a new age!"

"On the contrary," the Traveler replied, "I offered you life, but you have chosen death."

The inside of the Traveler lit with the brightness of the sun - the brightness of a far larger star - the brightness of Light, itself. Even sheltered by the Traveler, Jayesh felt the Light pierce him, threatening to wipe away his own feeble spark in its sheer intensity. Ghost gave a terrified cry.

The Light blasted outward. The being that had been Ghaul, ascended in stolen Light, faced the burst from the Traveler in astonishment. "You do see me!" he breathed. Then the Light wiped him away like smoke on a wind. It burned away the cage and its probes, tearing the metal into atoms in explosion after explosion.

The Light expanded outward and outward, healing and empowering every Guardian it touched. It expanded past the moon, past the planets, making the forces of Darkness shudder and cringe. It continued out into space for untold light years, and for all Jayesh knew, it was still out there, spreading across the universe forever.

The Light faded. Jayesh cracked an eyelid. The Traveler slowly released him, moving as if very tired. But they were no longer inside the moon-like structure. The Traveler had set him on one of the intact streets of the City. All around, Guardians and humans were slowly climbing to their feet, looking around in bewilderment and growing joy. Nobody noticed Jayesh and the Traveler's avatar - in their tattered clothing, they fit right in.

"It is finished," the Traveler said. "Go out and rebuild the City, Guardian Jayesh. The blessing of Light resides upon you."

"Thank you, Traveler," Jayesh said, bowing his head.

The Traveler smiled. "And might I make a suggestion?"

Jayesh nodded, speechless. Advice from the Traveler was something to be treasured.

"Switch disciplines to Warlock. You'll find it a better fit."

Jayesh laughed and hugged the avatar one more time. "Thank you, Traveler. I hope you can heal from this."

"My Guardians will see to it," the Traveler said. "Now go. You have much to do."

"Hey," said a voice behind Jayesh.

Jayesh turned to see Cayde-6 standing there. The Exo was missing an arm and his clothing was ragged from battle wounds, but his ghost was joyfully pouring healing Light into him.

"Who was that guy?" Cayde said. "You called him Traveler."

"Uh ..." Jayesh looked around, but the avatar had disappeared. "Well ... He was the Traveler's avatar. I ... I climbed into the Traveler before the attack and I'd been up there ever since."

Cayde looked up at the moon-like shape overhead for a long moment. "And you're not dead, I see."

Jayesh shook his head. His ghost beside him made a sound like suppressed laughter.

"Well, aren't you special," Cayde said. "We've been down here, just getting our arms blown off. Real fun party. Let me guess. Ghaul's not coming back?"

Jayesh shook his head. "The Traveler killed him."

Cayde pumped his remaining fist. Then he pointed at Jayesh. "I think Ikora's going to want to talk to you. For a very, very long time."

Jayesh looked around the ruins. "Did Commander Zavala make it? I need to change my course of study."

"Yep," Cayde said. "Too stubborn to die. The Cabal are like, you die now, and Zavala's like, nope dot jaypeg. Don't worry. He won't make you a garbage collector."

Jayesh laughed. "Not if I switch to Warlock. Somehow, I think that'll suit me better than Titan."

"Not Hunter?" Cayde said hopefully. "You get a cool cape."

Jayesh shook his head. "Hunters don't read enough books."

Cayde rolled his eyes. "Well, if you must waste time studying, warlock is the path for you. Give me a high five sometime, when I get a new arm."

Jayesh bumped fists with him instead. "You got it."

The end


End file.
